DON'T SAY DIET: Take a bite out of Cheddar biscuits

Some people go to Red Lobster for the shrimp or the crab legs, but many diners love to dig into that basket of Cheddar biscuits that comes with their meals.

I saw chef Todd Wilbur’s version of this restaurant’s secret recipe, but it contained so much fat that I decided to try to bake my own Cheddar biscuits from scratch.

A few recipes that claim to be clones of Red Lobster’s biscuits call for whole milk, a heap of cheese and lots of shortening. But I got very tasty results using buttermilk, a smaller amount of reduced-fat Cheddar and a lot less butter. I also sneak a little fiber into my biscuits by stirring in a bit of white whole wheat flour.

When I crunched the numbers on Todd Wilbur’s recipe, I found that in comparison, my version of these biscuits cuts the calories by 38 percent and slashes the fat by 61 percent.

Red Lobster’s Web site says one of its Cheddar Bay biscuits contains 150 calories and 8 fat grams, but if you bake my mine instead, you’ll save 17 percent of the calories and 39 percent of the fat in each biscuit.

You can have one of my Cheddar biscuits for 125 calories and 4.9 fat grams.

Cheddar Biscuits

1½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup white whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon chilled butter, cut into small pieces

¾ cup low-fat buttermilk

¾ cup finely shredded sharp Cheddar cheese made with 2 percent milk

½ teaspoon garlic powder

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Lightly spoon the flours into dry measuring cups and level with a knife. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk, cheese and garlic powder and stir just until dry ingredients are moist. Don’t overmix.

Drop about ¼-cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased baking sheet using an ice cream scoop. Bake for 12 to 17 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown. Serve warm.

Yield: 12 biscuits.

Approximate nutritional analysis per biscuit: 125 calories, 4.9 grams fat, 15 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams protein, 0.6 grams fiber, 233 milligrams sodium, 13 milligrams cholesterol.

Do you have a favorite food or popular recipe that you’d like to see made healthier? Send your ideas and recipes to me at dontsaydiet@gmail.com, or to: Don’t Say Diet, Box 780865, Wichita KS 67278.

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